Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic

Written by Kenya Hunt

Narrated by Kenya Hunt, Ebele Okobi, Jessica Horn and 2 more

“One of the year’s must-reads.” –ELLE

“[A] provocative, heart-breaking, and frequently hilarious collection.” –GLAMOUR

“Essential, vital, and urgent.” –HARPER’S BAZAAR

In the vein of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist and Issa Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, but wholly its own, a provocative, humorous, and, at times, heartbreaking collection of essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother, and a global citizen in today's ever-changing world.

Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated than they are now. But for every new milestone, every magazine cover, every box office record smashed, every new face elected to public office, the reality of everyday life for black women remains a complex, conflicted, contradiction-laden experience.

 An American journalist who has been living and working in London for a decade, Kenya Hunt has made a career of distilling moments, movements, and cultural moods into words. Her work takes the difficult and the indefinable and makes it accessible; it is razor sharp cultural observation threaded through evocative and relatable stories.

Girl Gurl Grrrl both illuminates our current cultural moment and transcends it. Hunt captures the zeitgeist while also creating a timeless celebration of womanhood, of blackness, and the possibilities they both contain. She blends the popular and the personal, the frivolous and the momentous in a collection that truly reflects what it is to be living and thriving as a black woman today.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063033368

Kenya Hunt

Kenya Hunt is the Fashion Director of Grazia UK. Her career spans working for some of the world's most influential women’s titles on both sides of the Atlantic from her post-grad days at Jane magazine, to her years as Deputy Editor of ELLE UK. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Evening Standard and other publications. And she’s made a number of appearances on BBC Woman’s Hour, Sky News and more. An American based in London, she lives south of the river with her husband and two sons.

Reviews for Girl Gurl Grrrl

[Artista Hairston · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Initially I was skeptical of this book. I was hoping it wouldn't be another quest of mocking or minimizing our culture for white popularity. I was pleasantly surprised that it was instead an open dialog of how black women operate within the world...globally....the similarities despite our differences within the diaspora.

[Evelyn Sekajipo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Right on time! Black women need to recover from 2020.

[Naquia Chante · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The black girl magic portion was great! We need our credit for the movements we create.

[Rebecca Wallace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Moving essays that discuss black womanhood in beautiful and intimate ways.

[penelopemarzec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hannah Boyle's dying mother thrusts her into Matthew Thornton's care. He believes he is her father and while he does right by her, his wife makes Hannah's life miserable. When he dies, Hannah's circumstances take a turn for the worse. Yet, she perseveres under appalling conditions for her heart holds onto hope. This well-told tale is highly recommended.

[beth3511 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I especially liked the essay on "Black Girl Magic," how the phrase started out celebrating everyday lives, and how the author is reclaiming the phrase and using it that way again.

[pomo58 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic by Kenya Hunt is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. And make no mistake, the parts are very good.I'll try to explain what I mean by that comment. Like any collection of essays (of which a few are written by others) there will be some that are stronger than others or speak to the reader more. This is no different, though there wasn't, for me, any bad or even borderline essay, just some that spoke to me more while reading than others. I phrased that last part the way I did intentionally. How we read it, what it stirs or doesn't stir, is largely a function of what the reader brings and the writer's style. What I find, especially in a collection that speaks to current events and social justice, is that how it sticks with me is more important than how I felt while reading it. And that is where I think this book excels and also why I consider the whole (the reading and the impact after reading) is greater than the sum of its parts (the collection of essays).I am not a woman and while I have some indigenous heritage I have essentially lived as a white, so anything I could somewhat relate to was either through a "similar to..." type exercise or remembering a friend mentioning something similar about how they feel or what they experienced. So I am not the target audience even though I imagine that I am the type of reader that can learn the most from the book. And learn I did even if it was/is at times uncomfortable (as it should be) and on a couple of occasions talking with friends who can more easily relate and asking questions (yeah, some of them were stupid questions, but they usually elicited the best answers).I highly recommend this to readers who can either directly relate or want to better understand our current political and cultural environment. These should be read not just with an open mind but while bracketing one's preconceived ideas and privileges. Read to understand, not argue or refute. You shouldn't be doing those things before understanding anyway or you're just debating your own strawmen.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.